Category Archives: Europe

March 28th was a small shock at the heart of the nation’s capitol. A man trying to enter the Capitol Visitor Center triggered the metal detectors and decided to pull out a gun and try and fire. A woman was injured by shrapnel but is expected to be okay. A US Capitol Police officer shot the gunman and was arrested. The man, known as Larry Dawson, 66, of Tennessee was the man who pulled this gun during his entrance. It has been known by Capitol police that Dawson has been suspect of other incidents at the Capitol in the past. The US Capitol was locked down briefly alongside the House, Senate, and Library of Congress. All have reopened but the Capitol building is currently only open for official business only. The police confirmed this incident was isolated and there are no other threats to the public stemming from this issue.

We are definitely in the age of technology. It’s the 21st century, and no longer are vending machines used just to buy your favorite bottled or canned beverage. You can rent movies from a vending machine. There are even places where you can buy cupcakes from special vending machines. One business in France has taken this vending style of marketing to the next level with vending machines that sell sausages and steaks.
Florence and Michel Pouzol are the owners of “L’ami Txulette” in the capital city of France. They spent about $45,000 to set up this vending machine project, by which they sell customers vacuum-packed meat every day of the week. Their shop is closed two days of the week, Sunday being one of them. By implementing this new 24/7 project, they are able to still cater to customers on the weekends.
Florence said that the greater population of the area is young. This method of selling meat is an easy way for customers to stop in and buy what they would like after a late night out on the town. Even more, those customers who get off after the shop closes are still able to buy the meats that they wish to buy.
However, there are still customers who are more laid back in their approach to buying meat. Some people are not ready to buy their dinner from a vending machine. This machine is the first of its kind in France and is still in the early stages.

A man was arrested on Thursday, January 30 when two firearms and additional ammunition were found in his bags upon going through security at the New York Hotel at Disneyland Paris. The man was also carrying a copy of the Quran with him. These belongings were found when the 28-year-old’s luggage was sent through an X-ray machine before he entered the hotel. When the man was interviewed, he told authorities that he was carrying the guns out of fear for his own protection. However, this incident was an impactful scare on those present because of the deaths of 130 people in bombings and shootings in November, as well as 17 more deaths earlier this year in and around Paris. The Islamic attacks had a serious effect on Paris and its people. This news was alarming to me because I live in Orlando, one of the largest tourist destinations in the United States, and also home to another of the Disney Parks. For now, Walt Disney World is only randomly selecting those who will go through the metal detectors. However, Disney has not been the only one to heighten security measures. Both Universal and SeaWorld Orlando have added extra precautions to protect park guests. Walt Disney World also stopped the sale of its toy guns. While many were frustrated with these new security measures, the incident in Paris this week made me realize that it’s better safe than sorry. With ISIS and other terrorist groups in the news daily, it makes sense to me why officials at high profile locations like both Walt Disney World and Disneyland Paris seek to more fully pursue safety.

After many months of deliberating and trying to come to an agreement, over 200 countries have finally signed the Climate Control agreement. The Agreement was finally passed on Saturday after a very tense micro disaster.
Only hours before the bill was about to be passed it was discovered that the word “should” was replaced with “shall” in part of the agreement. This then caused a large uproar from many of the delegates and threatened to postpone the pact even further.
The problem was quickly resolved under the guidance of John Kerry.
The Climate Accord, which was passed in Paris, is the first world wide attempt at helping control climate change.
The accord seeks to help reduce harmful gas emissions that would destroys the atmosphere. Many of the countries attending the summit were not fully on board with many of the stipulations in the pact and thus it has taken months to reach a suitable agreement for all parties.
President Obama gave these statements in regards to the Accord “ “This agreement sends a powerful signal that the world is fully committed to a low-carbon future,” “We’ve shown that the world has both the will and the ability to take on this challenge.”
The US has naturally been a strong and leading force in the push for climate change control. However, the US has let other contries take the reigns in this accord. Countries such as France (where the accord is being held), Germany, India, and Brazil have all had a large role in the accords reached Saturday

A conference was held this week in Brussels between the EU and Turkey. An agreement has been arranged and is being finalized between the Union and Turkey concerning the immigration crisis.
Long has Turkey sought to join the European Union, and now with this immigration delema facing Europe, it has its chance.
Turkey stands as one of the flood gate countries between Syria and Europe and as such has the power to control the flow of immigrants. Turkey has pitched its deal to the EU saying that if it is allowed to join it will make considerable changes to the flow of migrants.
Most of the members of the EU have agreed and are in the process of making it official.
Turkey has also asked for a sum of money from the EU so that it can help not only regulate the human traffic, but also build upon the living conditions of the refugees in turkey in a hope that they will consider staying in turkey.
The Turkish government asks for around 5 Billion euros to fund the en devour. The amount has been approved but will be paid out in increments. The funds from the EU will be paid out based upon completions of certain tasks in the immigration improvement project. Turkey will soon be busily completing the guidelines set out by the EU in an effort to gain their trust and resources.
The members of the EU are quite optimistic of the deal as they most certainly do not want any more immigrants pouring in. The arrangements to add Turkey to the EU should be finalized within the next month.

The Paris attacks have not yet been set aside. There is constant coverage, nearly a week long, of detailed and consistent, minute by minute updates of the Paris attack bombings, culprits, and consequences.

After all of the time that has passed since that tragic day in Paris, investigators have found themselves going as far as Belgium in regards to the source and leaders of this malevolent instance. The police have committed 22 raids and 16 arrests in Belgium thus far, meaning they have found 16 people, apart from those found in Paris etc. that have qualities of being guilty of the Paris bombings that occurred just last week.

At this years El Clasico, hotshots Real Madrid took a real tough ego hit. Not only did they not score on Barcelona’s great goalies Claudio Bravo, Jordi Masip, and Marc ter Stegen, but were scored on twice before the half. All of this with star Forward Lionel Messi on the sidelines.

Background: Days ago in paris, france where thousands of tourist and residents dinned ,shopped and watched sporting events. There was a huge bomb explosion followed by gunshots. The result of this massacre was 128 casualities. From that day france has frantically tried to figure out what happened and how it happened. Today on November 15, 2015 france finally strikes back by bombing the noturious ISIS terriorist group. Which ended up being the blame for this horrible act of hatred.

Over 120 people were killed in Paris France on Saturday the 14th of November. The terrorist regime, ISIS, has claimed responsibility for the largest terror attack in France this century. 8 gunman / suicide bombers conducted a coordinated attack all across Paris. The main attack came at the football stadium at which the French president was attending. The terrorists open fire with AK 47 on the crowd, killing many and wound and even more, there were also several explosions. 7 of the 8 terrorists were killed, mostly by suicide, but the 8th is still on the run as we speak. The President of France has said that this is a declaration of all out war and has promised that France’s retaliation shall be swift and merciless. The French president is calling for all NATO forces to assist in taking the fight to Isis. Already, only a day after the attack, strategic air strikes have been peppering Isis positions in Syria and Iraq. France is still grieving from its devastating losses. Hundreds of people are still in critical condition. A number of dead is still rising and is not 100% accurate or complete. To Americans where notably killed in this attack.

First, I would like to make note that I have not read her book. I only watched the seminar that she gave on Friday, November 13th. These are some of my notes that I took.
Fiona hill was impressive in the way she delivered information about Putin without making it sound bias. Her book has been recommended by Vice President Joe Biden and Sir John Scarlet, former chief of the British Secret Intelligence Service.
The first thing that she did in her speech was to inform the audience that Putin can be in power till 2024. This is because the Russian political system has been changed so that the president can serve 6 year terms.
One key point from her book that Hill decided to mention was Putins sky high ratings. He as an approval rating of 89%, and at his lowest it was 64%. She added “any politician would dream of ratings like that”. This spike in his approval was because he created a wartime presidency with Crimea, and it helps that he was able to host the Sochi Olympics.
The economy in Russia is extremely primitive- based on commodities. Putin also talks down the economy. He tells his citizens that they need to buckle down and succeed in the war… that is why they are not getting any economic growth. However, he always has a scapegoat if the economy is not going well. It is either Medvedev or the Western powers.
Putin believed that he gained all of his experience that he needs for president from his training in the KGB. This is evident in the way he calls everything a ‘mission’. We also only know what Putin wants us to know about him, nothing more. Hill mentioned that it is really hard to have a biography about someone that has not mentioned any background. One thing that Putin is famous for is his intimidation techniques. I suggest reading about his interview with Angela Merkel. He is comical.